Frazier Chorus - Wide Awake (1995)

Previously on OPIUM HUM:
Frazier Chorus - Sue (1989)

Third and final album from the quietly brilliant Frazier Chorus. On Wide Awake, they embraced a smooth, R&B-ish, 90s production style, with palm muted guitars, downtempo beats, muted horn lines, and other stuff that might make for good make-out music if you don't listen to the lyrics.

Track listing:

1. Wide Awake

2. If the Weather Was Up to Me

3. Bye-Bye Little Bird

4. Here We Are

5. Take Us Away

6. Driving

7. Lie, Mimic and Mime

8. Sound Asleep

How did I read the stars so wrong?

If you like this, listen to:

Nona Hendryx - SkinDiver (1989)

Ega and Alice - 24 Years of Hunger (1991)

Richard Barbieri / Tim Bowness - Flame (1994)

Related:

Tim Bowness / Samuel Smiles - World of Bright Futures (1999)

No-Man - Together We're Stranger (2003)

Artful, nocturnal melancholy featuring the vocal stylings of Tim Bowness, who as far as I know hasn't stopped being sad since at least the early 90s. If you had told a 16-year-old me that I'd end up liking the same kind of sleekly produced, middle-aged sad sack music that my dad forced me to listen to in the car on the way to school, I probably would've quoted "Life Sentence" at you and skulked away to smoke cigarettes with my faux-hippie girlfriend and assure myself that I would never, ever be like my dad -- who, it turns out, was right all along.

Track listing:

1. A Night in Heaven

2. Song of Love and Everything Part I and II

3. Brightest Blue

4. Flame

5. Trash Talk

6. Time Flown

7. Torch Dance

8. Feel

See me

Also listen to:

Rain Tree Crow - Rain Tree Crow (1991)

Alesini & Andreoni - Marco Polo (1995)

Dip in the Pool - Silence (1986)

Heaven-sent Japanese ambient synth pop. Understated, deceptively complex, and way ahead of its time. Little bits here and there remind me of some of the greats, but Dip in the Pool never really sound like anyone but themselves. 10/10.

Track listing:

1. Rabo del sol

2. Facing the Sea

3. はすのえにし

4. Sur le pois

5. Silence

6. ひなまり

7. View

8. Again

9. Spring from the Surface

10. Dormir

It's so different here

You might also enjoy:

Akira Inoue - Splash (1983)

Jan Bang - Frozen Feelings (1989)

Tim Bowness / Samuel Smiles - World of Bright Futures (1999)

Related:
No-Man - Together We're Stranger (2003)

Nocturnal, jazz-tinged melancholy from the eternally downcast Tim Bowness and company. A commenter on a post a while back asked if I could recommend anything in same vein as The Blue Nile, and if they're reading this now: aside from the lack of synths, this might scratch that itch.

Track listing:
World of Bright Futures
1. World of Bright Futures
2. Dreaming of Babylon
3. (Watching) Over Me
4. Sorry Looking Soldier
5. Two Hands
6. Red Eye Removal
7. Something of You
8. Lisa/Ophelia
9. Small
10. Smaller
Live Disc
1. Come to Me
2. Never Lose Control
3. Something of You
4. Sweet Kiss
5. Brightest Blue

They're touching
Touching each other
They push and move
And love each other
They fit together like two hands

More along these lines:

Mark Isham -
Mark Isham (1990)

Rain Tree Crow -
Rain Tree Crow (1991)

Mark Isham - Mark Isham (1990)

Previously on OPIUM HUM:
Mark Isham - Castalia (1988)
Mark Isham - Tibet (1989)

More artful, ambient jazz from trumpeter Mark Isham. Some songs -- particularly the ones featuring the simmering vocals of Tanita Takiram -- lean heavier into adult-contempo, and land in similarly evocative, nocturnal territory as The Blue Nile, circa Hats. Also features the glistening, fluid guitar stylings of David Torn.

Track listing:
1. Honeymoon Nights
2. I Will Never Know
3. Marionette
4. An Eye on the World
5. Blue Moon
6. Ashes and Diamonds
7. Toward the Infinite White
8. Songs of the Flying Fish
9. Turkish Delight

To forget for a moment

If you like this, listen to:

Manfred Schoof & Rainer Brüninghaus -
Shadows & Smiles (1989)

John Taylor, Norma Winston,
& Kenny Wheeler - Azimuth (1977)

Jan Bang - Frozen Feelings (1989)

Previously on OPIUM HUM:
Christian Wallumrød, Arve Henriksen, Jan Bang, Erik Honoré - Birth Wish (2000)

Synth-driven 80s pop from Norwegian singer/musician/producer Jan Bang. Big, shiny production and upbeat arrangements mask some pretty damn dark lyrics. Bang is better-known for his later work in the jazz world, making this sophisticated take on contemporary pop a curiously sugary addition to his discography. Reminds me of Tears for Fears, circa The Hurting.

Track listing:
1. Frozen Feelings
2. One Made Two
3. Fake Delight
4. Blindness
5. Merciful Waters
6. Dance Away
7. Is This Really True
8. Beyond
9. Come with Me
10. I Can't Forget You

Dive deep down

You'd also like:

Nona Hendryx -
SkinDiver (1989)

Eg and Alice -
24 Years of Hunger (1991)

Akira Inoue - Splash (1983)

Smooth, lush Japanese synthpop. Tinges of fusion and new wave round out a shimmering, positively heavenly sound.

Track listing:
1. さまよえるオランダ人のように
2. アドリアン・ブルー
3. 異星 （ソラリス）の女
4. Le Plongeur
5. Eleven Islands
6. サファリ・オスティナート
7. リンダ・ラルー （ラムの大通りにて）
8. 海底2万マイル
9. オンディーヌ

Lost passengers

You should also listen to:

Frazier Chorus -
Sue (1989)

Care -
Diamonds & Emeralds (1997)

Nona Hendryx - SkinDiver (1989)

An alluring, lush album of artfully crafted, R&B-flavored, downtempo pop. From what I understand, SkinDiver is a relatively experimental outlier in Hendryx's otherwise radio-friendly discography, and the only other one I've heard, Female Trouble, is certainly enjoyable, but also seems to confirm this. SO explore her other records at your own risk.

Track listing:
1. Off the Coast of Love
2. Women Who Fly
3. No Emotion
4. Love Is Kind
5. Tears
6. Skin Diver
7. 6th Sense
8. Through the Wire
9. Interior Voices
10. New Desire

There's a man, unaware
He calls it happiness

If you like this, check out:
Eg & Alice - 24 Years of Hunger (1991)

Eg and Alice - 24 Years of Hunger (1991)

24 Years of Hunger is so sophisticated and subtle, it's hard to believe that it's the result of a one-off collaboration between two then-unknowns [EDIT: Ignore that part. An astute commenter noted that Eg previously was a member of a boy band, of whom I had never heard, called Brother Beyond. Do you know them? I guess they had a number of hits. So maybe, just maybe, I should stop pulling ill-informed 'facts' out of my ass.] and not that of a team of seasoned studio veterans. This is mostly laid-back, smooth pop/R&B with simple but evocative lyrics. Kinda reminds me of D'Angelo's Voodoo -- not in the sense that they necessarily sound the same, but that despite being pop records, it's hard to imagine a mainstream audience fully embracing them. So although it makes sense that this record wasn't a hit, the internet really should have granted it more retroactive fame by now.

[9/2/18: Updated with much better rip.]

Track listing:
1. Rockets
2. In a Cold Way
3. Mystery Man
4. And I Have Seen Myself
5. So High So Low
6. New Year's Eve
7. Indian
8. Doesn't Mean That Much to Me
9. Crosstown
10. I Wish

You always talk of suicide
Well, you know that talk is cheap